


The Summer Islands

by Ashesintheair



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, In denial about Book 6
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-03
Updated: 2014-10-03
Packaged: 2018-02-19 17:25:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2396624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ashesintheair/pseuds/Ashesintheair
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for a prompt on the JxB LJ community a while ago. "Jaime/Brienne, crack!AU, after what happens at the end of Jaime’s chapter, they go on a luxury cruise to the Summer Isles". Amazingly non-cracky, in many respects.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Summer Islands

“What’s Sansa Stark doing in Saltpans?”

Brienne didn’t look up, concentrating instead on untying the skiff.

“Is Clegane here too?” Jaime asked and leaned over to see her face. “Brienne?”

She turned back a little, just enough to stop him leaning any further and overbalancing the little boat. “She’s not here. It’s further downstream.”

“How much further?”

“Gulltown.” She glanced around at the trees either side of the river. She couldn’t see anyone in the shadows of the undergrowth but she was quite sure that they were still keeping a close eye on her.

He frowned and she knew that she was going to have to start watching her words more carefully. Lying had never come easily to her; ironic that she now had to use it with her teacher in the art.

“Why on earth would either of them go to Gulltown? If the Hound wanted to go somewhere I wouldn’t think to look, that would be it.”

Brienne said nothing. Jaime did enough talking for both of them.

 

***

They didn’t see much of Gulltown. Brienne pulled the skiff in between the larger boats at the docks and at the docks they stayed.

“He was seen trying to gain passage on a boat to the free cities,” she said awkwardly but the lie was coming undone.

“And he agreed to wait for you to fetch me so that we could return Sansa to the bosom of her family. What’s left of it.” Jaime was sceptical and must have guessed that the story was exactly that, but he hadn’t yet demanded an explanation.

Brienne’s blue eyes darted about the dockside. There were too many shadows that she couldn’t make out, too many faces hidden. Her gaze found the man she had been looking for.

“You still want to buy my boat, girl?”

“Yes. He’ll pay.”

Jaime, still bristling over the old sailor calling Brienne ‘girl’, took a moment to register what she had said. “What?”

“I assume you have some gold with you, Lannister,” she answered coolly, her voice at odds with the twisted turmoil of her stomach. He had been right. So many oaths, so many promises. You couldn’t keep them all. So she had clung to one of them and was determined to see it through.

He absently handed over enough dragons to appease the sailor, sharp eyes raking over Brienne all the while. “Why am I buying a boat, wench?”

_As quickly as that, I’m back to ‘wench’._ It was time for the second lie. “We’re going to the Wall. I have a debt to settle with Stannis and you’re going to help me.” She made it loud enough to reach all the shadowy ears of the dockside.

“Stannis?” Jaime laughed. “Well he probably won’t kill us on sight, but I wouldn’t wager on our chances after that. I know you have your scores to settle but is now the time? What of Sansa Stark?”

“I don’t know where Lady Sansa is but I pray she is well looked after. She’s certainly well hidden,” Brienne said stolidly. “I could spend years wandering across the seven kingdoms and never lay eyes on her.”

There was that searching look again, the cat green eyes flickering over her face, Jaime’s expression unreadable. “Well, I suppose one less king in Westeros is a welcome proposition. And who knows? Perhaps Lady Sansa has run north to her bastard brother. Stranger things have happened.”

Brienne let out a slow breath and tried not to let the relief show on her face.

***

The boat was small, just one small cabin, but more seaworthy than the skiff. True to his word, the sailor had left it well stocked with provisions so they didn’t need to worry on that front. Brienne knew her way around boats of this size from her childhood on Tarth and took the tiller. She didn’t intend to head too far out to sea – there had been rumours of storms – so she hugged the coastline. Jaime was greener than she had ever seen a person who was still alive and spent a good part of the day hanging over the side. He seemed to perk up as the sun drew down to the horizon and the air off the water grew cooler.

“The sun’s over there,” he frowned. “You’re going south, wench. Perhaps you’d like to tell me what’s going on now.”

Her hand shook on the tiller and she gripped tighter. “I don’t know what you mean,” she said stubbornly.

His eyes rested on the shaking hand for a moment, and then he slid over to sit next to her and his hand rested on her shoulder. “Brienne.”

The walls of the lie were already paper thin and they crumbled at the touch. “You were right. You were right about all of it. There are too many oaths. They pile up until you can’t keep one without forsaking another.” The words poured out and once she started she couldn’t stop. She told him about her journey to find Sansa, about Biter, until she got to Lady Stoneheart.

“Catelyn Stark? She’s the one who has been terrorising the riverlands?”

“I… I don’t know. She’s dead. But she walks and talks. She knows things.” She struggled with the words. She had never been good with giving her thoughts voice. “Jaime, she isn’t like she was. When I knew her, Lady Catelyn was brave and strong, but there was compassion there. She’s different now. She’s ruthless.”

“She’s running out of Freys to hang,” Jaime snorted.

“She hanged me.” She had seen him looking at the bruises before, but she tugged down the neck of her shirt, just to make her point. “She hanged me because she thought I was a Lannister now.” That hadn’t exactly been it but the hot, twisted feeling in her stomach wouldn’t let her tell him that she had refused to kill him, wouldn’t even let her say the words _Kingslayer’s whore_.

“And yet here you stand. Are you planning an undead rampage of your own now? Do we need to start hanging enemies of Tarth? Does Tarth _have_ any enemies?” He made light of it and she couldn’t understand why. It was infuriating.

“I swore an oath to Lady Catelyn to keep you safe. And when she swore me into her service, Lady Catelyn swore an oath to me; that she would not interfere when the time came for me to go after Stannis. It was enough to force her to let me go. The others were already dead. She let me go. To… to kill Stannis. And then she ordered me to return to her. With you.” She forced the words out, staring at the wood beneath her feet.

“And you announced that very thing to half of Gulltown, so that she thinks you’re an obedient wench. In the meantime, you seem to have kidnapped me and we’re going to…?” He left it hanging and she could do nothing but fill in the gap with a helpless whisper.

“The Summer Islands.”

Jaime sighed and took his hand from her shoulder. She stole a sideways glance at him and saw him staring at the deck, just as she had. “I can’t leave Westeros. Tommen needs me,” he said at last.

“The King has many counsellors. And his mother will help him. But I think if you asked Tommen he would rather have his… uncle alive and able to come back to him.” She kept her face a mask and carried on. “I swore that I would keep you safe. If we go back, she’ll kill us both. I can’t save Sansa Stark and I don’t know if enough of Lady Catelyn is left inside Lady Stoneheart for me to follow her… But I can do this. I can keep this promise.”

His head tilted up and he looked thoughtfully at the horizon. “The Summer Islands… Perhaps we should visit. Just for a short while, though.”

“Jaime…”

“Don’t say anything. I might change my mind.”

***

The sun was warm and the summer islanders left them to their own devices. Jaime sat in the scrub above the beach and watched Brienne swim in water as blue as her eyes. She spent more time under the surface than above it and he lost sight of her more than once. In the water, she was graceful and he could understand why she spent so much time there. He wasn’t sure how well he could swim with one hand, so had never ventured out too far.

It was easy to forget how far away Westeros was, the turmoil there. He felt guilty for not thinking about it, and then more guilty when he did. He should be there, he should be helping Tommen rule, like a good little lion. He shouldn’t be spending his days on an island that was the closest thing he had seen to paradise on earth, idling away his days while others fought and died. But Brienne had been right, he was of no use to anyone dead. Neither was Brienne. He didn’t doubt that Lady Stoneheart would not hesitate to put another noose around Brienne’s neck. So he told himself, _tomorrow_. _We’ll start on our way back tomorrow._ And perhaps, by tomorrow, the fighting will have stopped. They can return to the seven kingdoms and Brienne will be safe.

Jaime watched her disappear under the water again, cutting the water with barely a ripple.

It had taken a long while to learn how to sit still and just be. There had been days of anxious, nervous energy. Brienne still hadn’t learned, but had the water to spend her energy in. He leaned back on his hand and sighed, looking up at the clouds. The wave whispered against the sand and there was peace. His head jerked back to the water. It had been too long. There was no sound of the water breaking and she had been under for too long.

He scrambled to his feet and ran into the water, calling her name and looking wildly for some sign of her presence. There was something on his foot and he absently tried to kick to brush it away but the world swept up and the water hit his back. When he resurfaced, he found her stood in front of him, her mouth serious but her eyes laughing at him.

“I’m glad I amuse you,” he managed, spitting sand and seawater. “Next time I think you’re drowning, I’ll leave you to it.”

“I won’t die drowning,” she said, suddenly serious and defiant. “I’ll die with a sword in my hand.” Her voice softened. “Does the idea of being alone scare you so?”

_The idea of you dying scares me_. “I don’t want to be stranded here forever. You’re the only one who knows how to handle that boat.”

“Jaime…” Her hand reached out and he didn’t even think about it. He pulled her closer and his mouth brushed the scars on her cheek. When he leaned back her hand flew up to her face, hovering nervously over the skin as if she was afraid to touch it.

“Go and swim. Don’t drown. And when you’ve tired of it, sit with me and we’ll talk about how not to die.”

She watched him, her expression curiosity mixed through with apprehension. “And if I don’t want to talk?” she asked slowly.

“Then I won’t say a word.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> I remain convinced that 'Stannis' is Brienne's last word to Catelyn. I will cling to this until GRRM crushes all my dreams.


End file.
